West Milford started out as New Milford in what was then western Bergen County in the 18th century, having been settled by disenchanted Dutch from Milford, New Jersey (later renamed by the British as Newark). These same Dutch also built a town of New Milford in eastern Bergen County. When both New Milfords applied for post offices in 1828, a clerk in Washington, D.C. is said to have approved the other application first and assigned the name "West Milford" to the New Milford in western Bergen County in order to distinguish between the two locations.[19]

There are old name places in the township including Postville, Utterville, Corterville, Browns, Awosting, Echo Lake, Macopin, Charlotteburg (ow under the Charlotteburg Reservoir, the community was named after King George III's wife, Queen Charlotte), Clinton (or sometimes called Clinton Furnace, now under the Clinton Reservoir, and the furnace still stands), Moe Mountain, Oak Ridge (a nameplace, but town is under the Oak Ridge Reservoir), Newfoundland, Apshawa, New City, and Smith Mills. Newfoundland is divided by the Pequannock River, which divides Passaic and Morris Counties; a small part of Newfoundland lies within Jefferson Township. A large part of the township, including the New City Village area, is reservoir property owned by the City of Newark in Essex County for their water supply. Prior to the Second World War, the township was a resort area with trains coming from New York City to stations at Charlotteburg, Newfoundland, Oak Ridge in the south and Hewitt (also known as Sterling Forest station) and Awosting in the north. Railroad service in the south was from the New Jersey Midland starting around the 1850s and in the north around the 1870s from the Montclair Railroad, out of Montclair, New Jersey and later the Erie Railroad (before their merger with the Lackawanna Railroad).

Greenwood Lake is an interstate lake approximately 9 miles (14 km) long lying in both New Jersey and New York State. It was originally called Long Pond. It was dammed up to increase the size of the lake for water power down stream. During the resort era, several steamboats operated on the lake, the most famous and grand was the two deck steamer, Montclair. These steamboats met the trains and took passengers to the various resorts around the lake in both states.

There is a seaplane area on Greenwood Lake, a few large marinas and lakeside restaurants with docks. There is a public airport called Greenwood Lake Airport just south of the lake on top of a mountain ridge and has two landing strips; one is long enough to handle small jets.[21] There is one private airport in the township on a private estate.

After World War II and for the next 20 years the area underwent a major change from a resort area to year round residences. Before there were year-round houses, the summer residence of Cecil B. Demille was West Milford. Road maps of the 1950s showing the population on the backside said 2,000 winter and 10,000 summer.[22]

Jeremiah "Jerry" Goodfellow, a white German shepherd and the senior canine member of the New Jersey Search and Rescue was inducted into the Animal Hall of Fame in 2009.[23] Jerry lives with his owner and trainer, Sue Lavoie, on Union Valley Road in West Milford.

The 2003 film The Station Agent was set, and filmed, largely in Newfoundland.[24] There was an early silent movie produced in the township at the Mine Hole in the Hewitt section of the township. A still photo of that movie is published in the township's 1984 sesquicentennial book entitled The Day the Earth Shook and the Sky Turned Red.

There were 9,625 households, of which 32.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.4% were married couples living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.4% were non-families. 21.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.12.[8]

In the township, 22.4% of the population were under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 24.4% from 25 to 44, 33.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42.7 years. For every 100 females there were 98.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.8 males.[8]

The Census Bureau's 2006-2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $88,692 (with a margin of error of +/- $4,308) and the median family income was $102,410 (+/- $7,418). Males had a median income of $62,925 (+/- $3,467) versus $45,449 (+/- $2,738) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $37,905 (+/- $2,289). About 1.7% of families and 3.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.5% of those under age 18 and 5.2% of those age 65 or over.[37]

There were 9,190 households out of which 39.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.3% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.8% were non-families. 16.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.84 and the average family size was 3.23.[35][36]

In the township the population was spread out with 27.2% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 33.6% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 8.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 100.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.4 males.[35][36]

The median income for a household in the township was $74,124, and the median income for a family was $80,264. Males had a median income of $51,105 versus $37,159 for females. The per capita income for the township was $28,612. About 2.6% of families and 4.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.1% of those under age 18 and 2.9% of those age 65 or over.[35][36]

West Milford businesses are represented by the West Milford Chamber of Commerce, an organization of business men and women that has worked to improve and enhance the business community in West Milford since it was established in 1949.[39]

For decades, West Milford was rural with only a couple service stations, a couple small eating establishments, and a bank or two. The community was mostly residential. In the mid-1960s a then-average-sized 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) A&P Supermarket was built. During the late 1990s, A&P closed this original store and built a 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) supermarket a few miles away from the town center, next door to their former store.

In 1972, Warner Brothers opened up a wildlife theme park called Jungle Habitat. This park consisted of a drive through safari and a small park with various shows. Initially, this brought huge tourist revenue to the township. Shortly after the park opened, a tourist being driven through the safari in a taxi was attacked by a lion on October 19, 1972, bringing negative publicity to the park.[40] The park was plagued by problems, including reports of dangerous animals escaping into West Milford.[41]

Jungle Habitat was a mixed blessing due to the amount of summer and weekend traffic into this rural area made up of small two lane roads. Jungle Habitat wanted to expand and become a huge amusement park, but residents concerned with excessive traffic voted this proposal down in 1976, which resulted in an abrupt closing and exit. Some of the animals in the wildlife park were subsequently moved to the then-recently established drive through safari at Great Adventure in Jackson Township. The former site of Jungle Habitat, in recent years has become a location for various Township activities such as the annual Fourth of July Fireworks display.

With the loss of tax revenue and the needs of the residents in mind, the township approved the addition of more businesses. In the 1970s,[citation needed] a 45,000-square-foot (4,200 m2) ShopRite supermarket was built, and was expanded in the mid-1980s. Shortly thereafter, other businesses opened in the West Milford Shopping Center.

Near the ShopRite, several restaurants and fast food establishments were built, including a McDonald's restaurant as well as the Abby Theater, the first four-screen multiplex cinema in northern New Jersey. The Abby Theater was opened in 1976 and designed by Milton Herson for Music Makers Theaters, with a seating capacity of 1,400. The theater was named for Abby Leigh, wife of Mitch Leigh, then board chairman of Music Makers.[42] The Abby Theater closed down in 2009 after several unsuccessful business attempts, as the township did not have enough residents to keep the business in operation. It was slated to be demolished in order to make room for an expansion of the ShopRite supermarket in 2012.[43][44]

In May 2009, Eden Farms, an 8-acre (3.2 ha) floral farm on Union Valley Road, became the first "preserved farm" in Passaic County. County officials used money from the Farmland Preservation Funds to purchase development rights to the farm.[45] Owners George and Diana Cluff initially began working on the agreement in 2007. The deal prevents the farm from being built upon.[46]

The Township of West Milford operates under the Faulkner Act, formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, under the Mayor-Council-Administrator plan adopted as of January 1, 2004. This plan is described as a "Faulknerized" version of the borough form of government, which was added to the Faulkner Act as the fourth optional form of municipal government in 1981 by the New Jersey Legislature.[47]

The voters of West Milford Township adopted the Mayor-Council-Administrator Plan at a special election held on December 10, 2002,[48] making it one of only three municipalities that use this form.[49] Under the mayor-council-administrator plan, West Milford is governed by an elected mayor and council, with an appointed municipal administrator. The government consists of a Mayor and a Township Council made up of six council members, with all positions elected at-large on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. A Mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The Township Council consists of six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year.[6]

The Mayor holds executive power under the mayor-council-administrator plan and presides over meetings of the Township Council but does not vote except to break a tie. The Township Council enacts ordinances and resolutions, establishes policies, prepares the annual budget and levies taxes. The Township Administrator in the mayor-council-administrator plan oversees each of the departments established by ordinance and directs the business affairs of the Township.[50]

As of 2015[update], the Mayor of West Milford Township is Democrat Bettina Bieri, whose term of office ends December 31, 2015.[51] Members of the Township Council are Council President Vivienne Erk (R, 2015), Michele Dale (R, 2016), Ada Erik (R, 2017), Michael Hensley (R, 2015), Marilyn Lichtenberg (R, 2017) and Luciano "Lou" Signorino (R, 2016).[52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59]

Passaic County is governed by a seven-member Board of Chosen Freeholders, who are elected at-large to staggered three-year terms office on a partisan basis, with two or three seats coming up for election each year as part of the November general election in a three-year cycle. At a reorganization meeting held in January, the board selects a Director and Deputy Director from among its members to serve for a one-year term.[71] As of 2015[update], Passaic County's Freeholders are Freeholder Director Hector C. Lora (D, term ends December 31, 2015; Passaic),[72] Freeholder Deputy Director Bruce James (D, 2017; Clifton),[73] John W. Bartlett (D, 2015; Wayne),[74] Theodore O. Best, Jr. (D, 2017; Paterson),[75] Ronda Cotroneo (D, 2015; Ringwood),[76] Terry Duffy (D, 2016; West Milford),[77] and Pat Lepore (D, 2016; Woodland Park).[78][79][80] Constitutional officers elected on a countywide basis are County Clerk Kristin M. Corrado (R, 2019),[81]Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik (2016)[82] and Surrogate Bernice Toledo (2016).[83][84][85]

As of March 23, 2011, there were a total of 17,588 registered voters in West Milford, of which 3,397 (19.3% vs. 31.0% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 5,070 (28.8% vs. 18.7%) were registered as Republicans and 9,111 (51.8% vs. 50.3%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 10 voters registered to other parties.[88] Among the township's 2010 Census population, 68.0% (vs. 53.2% in Passaic County) were registered to vote, including 87.7% of those ages 18 and over (vs. 70.8% countywide).[88][89]

In the 2012 presidential election, Republican Mitt Romney received 58.4% of the vote (7,003 cast), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama with 40.3% (4,832 votes), and other candidates with 1.3% (154 votes), among the 12,074 ballots cast by the township's 18,268 registered voters (85 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 66.1%.[90][91] In the 2008 presidential election, Republican John McCain received 7,672 votes (56.5% vs. 37.7% countywide), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama with 5,515 votes (40.6% vs. 58.8%) and other candidates with 161 votes (1.2% vs. 0.8%), among the 13,575 ballots cast by the township's 18,016 registered voters, for a turnout of 75.3% (vs. 70.4% in Passaic County).[92] In the 2004 presidential election, Republican George W. Bush received 7,920 votes (60.9% vs. 42.7% countywide), ahead of Democrat John Kerry with 4,783 votes (36.8% vs. 53.9%) and other candidates with 109 votes (0.8% vs. 0.7%), among the 13,000 ballots cast by the township's 16,932 registered voters, for a turnout of 76.8% (vs. 69.3% in the whole county).[93]

The West Milford Township Public Schools serve students in Kindergarten through twelfth grade. West Milford has six elementary schools (grades K-6), one middle school (grade 7-8), and one high school (grades 9-12). Further, the district supports a Center for Adult/Community Education. As of the 2011-12 school year, the district's eight schools had an enrollment of 3,782 students and 280.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.47:1.[97] The school system has 361 certified staff members, over 50% of whom have a master's degree or higher. Schools in the district (with 2011-12 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[98]) are the six K-6 elementary schools — Apshawa Elementary School[99] (269 students), Maple Road Elementary School[100] (325), Marshall Hill Elementary School[101] (314), Paradise Knoll Elementary School[102] (311), Upper Greenwood Lake Elementary School[103] (301) and Westbrook Elementary School[104] (399) — along with Macopin Middle School[105] (626) for grades 7-8 and West Milford High School[106] (1,237) for grades 9-12.[107][108]

Our Lady Queen of Peace was a Catholic school located in the community of Hewitt until it was closed in June 2010 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson in the face of declining enrollment.[109] OLQP School celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009, and had its Fourth Grade teacher, Lorraine Ford, named as a finalist for the 2008 New Jersey Nonpublic School Teacher of the Year award.[110]

The old Newfoundland, two-room schoolhouse was the Village Square Inn Restaurant until it closed in 2010. The old Hillcrest School is now the township's community center. The few one-room schoolhouses are all gone; the last one was the Hewitt School, destroyed by fire set by vandals (it had been the former Methodist church before a new, larger church was built).

As of May 2010[update], the township had a total of 198.30 miles (319.13 km) of roadways, of which 163.20 miles (262.64 km) were maintained by the municipality, 26.61 miles (42.82 km) by Passaic County and 8.49 miles (13.66 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.[111]

The township provides its own bus service, on two routes. One that runs by Upper Greenwood Lake, and operates Monday-Friday, and one that runs between Oak Ridge & Newfoundland, which runs Wednesdays only.[113]

^Stewart, Holly. "Where we’re at", Suburban Trends, July 19, 2012. Accessed January 15, 2013. "In the 18th century, West Milford was part of Bergen County; it was comprised of the westernmost areas of Franklin and Saddle River townships. It was settled by Dutch who moved north from the place we now call Newark; as they had called their former home 'Milford,' they wished to call the new place 'New Milford,' but another faction of the same migrants had already done the same in a community near the Hudson River. When both locales petitioned for a post office in 1828, a federal clerk is said to have applied the adjective 'west' to one in order to distinguish them."

^DeStefano, Robert. "Choo choo choosing a home with personality", The West Milford Messenger, May 26, 2005. Accessed January 15, 2013. "They moved into the old Newfoundland building last July, and are hard at work to make it their comfortable, if slightly offbeat, living quarters.... In 2002 the building gained celebrity status when the independent film The Station Agent was filmed there."

^Laplaca, Bryan. "Back in the Day - Oct. 8, 1997: 'Hal from North Bergen' sued Bloomingdale", Suburban Trends, October 15, 2012. Accessed September 22, 2014. "The man in the picture is Abraham Levy who was in the intensive care unit of Chilton Hospital in Pompton Plains. He was bitten by a lion while visiting Jungle Habitat in West Milford.... Two eyewitnesses to the mauling of Levy on Oct. 9, 1972 blasted the Habitat management for allowing what they called dangerous conditions to exist."

^Zimmer, David M. "Mayor-Council-Administrator", Suburban Trends, April 26, 2010. Accessed October 1, 2014. "Voters approved the Mayor-Council-Administrator form of government during a special election in December 2002, making West Milford only one of three towns in New Jersey to operate under this charter."

^Zimmer, David M. "West Milford school board, town council reorganize", Suburban Trends, January 11, 2015. Accessed January 28, 2015. "The restructuring of West Milford Township's taxing entities brought its fair share of shakeups, including an apparent division among the now all-Republican six-member town council.... Bieri's first tie-breaking vote came just minutes into the meeting when she selected Councilwoman Vivienne Erk to extend her role as council president for 2015 amid a challenge from fellow third-year Councilman Michael Hensley. Hensley was backed by Michele Dale and former Council President Lou Signorino, while the pair of Ada Erik and Marilyn Lichtenberg – fresh off taking their respective oaths of office – cast their votes for Erk."

^Zimmer, David M. "Our Lady Queen of Peace School to close in June", Suburban Trends, March 29, 2010. Accessed January 15, 2013. "The Our Lady Queen of Peace (OLQP) School on Union Valley Road in the Hewitt section of West Milford will officially be closing at the end of the year, due to a lack of enrollment and operating revenue."

^Alfano, George. "$30,000 ALLOCATED TO COOLEY HOUSE", The Record (Bergen County), February 19, 1987. Accessed January 15, 2013. "Mayor Stewart Perry said he had estimates of between $73,000 and $96,000 to move the home, which belonged to 19th-Century artist Jasper Francis Cropsey. Cropsey lived in the Greenwood Lake home, and was a painter of the Hudson River School and a noted architect."

^Guererro, Millie. "NY Giant shares his passion for football with local kids", West Milford Messenger, April 23, 2007. Accessed January 15, 2013. "Garnes moved to West Milford seven years ago and has just recently been able to reach out to the community and give back the knowledge he obtain throughout his career by forming a football clinic that he is expanding into neighboring towns."

^Makin, Robert. "Album Reviews", Courier-News, June 1, 2000. Accessed November 30, 2011. "Keenan formed the band with West Milford-raised guitarist Billy Howerdel, who performed on 'Aenima.'"

^Genader, Ann. "Township council to honor Derek Jeter?", Aim West Milford, November 27, 2009. Accessed April 14, 2012. "One of the homes he presently owns is Tiedemann Castle on the West Milford/Greenwood Lake, N.Y. border."